At the U.S. Agency for International Development, we are committed to a data-driven and evidence-based approach to development. Data plays a critical role in understanding our development impact, adapting our strategies, and communicating our results. But with limited time, resources, and technology, the process of identifying and collecting the right data — and making sure that data that is accurate, relevant, and useful — can be extremely challenging.
This week, after months of dedicated work, USAID updated its public-private partnership data on the Development Data Library, a dataset that now has information on more than 1,600 partnerships from across the agency.
This data not only helps us better understand how businesses, governments, and nonprofits are collaborating to solve development challenges and allows for additional analysis and insights into partnerships and trends, but the process of collecting and sharing this information also demonstrates how far we have come and how far we still must go to effectively harness and utilize our data.
About the authors
Winnette Richards
As a research and data associate with the Center for Transformational Partnerships in USAID’s Global Development Lab, through Dexis Consulting Group, Winnette performs research and data analysis on the agency’s public-private partnerships. She also conducts research on social entrepreneurship and other innovative approaches to private-sector engagement as a tool to advance development efforts globally. She is a recent graduate of Emory University’s master’s in development practice program, with concentrations in rights, ethics and governance.
Lisa Liu
Lisa Liu is a program analyst with the U.S. Global Development Lab’s Center for Transformational Partnerships. In this role, she performs research and data analysis on public-private partnerships and other approaches to private-sector engagement; she also develops tools to enable Agency staff to work in this area. Prior to joining USAID, Lisa worked a monitoring and evaluation firm, specializing in education and workforce development.
